About 40 placard-waving University of Calgary students chanted slogans and handed out literature Thursday to protest Occidental Petroleum’s drilling program near sacred land in Colombia. The demonstration, at Canadian Occidental’s downtown Calgary office, was held in support of the 7,000-member U’wa tribe.
“The U’wa’s human rights are being trampled,” said Jeff Emmett, a University of Calgary International Relations student. “The oil industry would bring many ecological and environmental problems that could destroy their way of life.”
Can Oxy spokesperson Kevin Finn said the students should be voicing their concerns to their American counterpart, Occidental Petroleum. “They’ve initiated the drilling program in that area, ” he said. “We have no influence over what they’re doing in Colombia.” According to the company’s Web site, Can Oxy holds interests in four exploration blocks in the South American country – none is located near the U’wa’s tribal lands.
The U’wa say the disputed area is part of their ancestral lands and have staged protests against Occidental since November. Emmett said the protest wasn’t anti-business. “We want corporations to be responsible for their actions. Why can’t Occidental make some concessions to these people?”
Occidental owns 25 per cent of the disputed block, with Colombia’s state oil company owning the rest. Protests against Occidental Petroleum were staged across North America Thursday. The one in Calgary coincided with a shareholders proxy. Shareholders of Can Oxy voted two-thirds in favour of a plan to defend the company against a hostile takeover bid from its U.S. parent. The move became necessary when Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp signalled it would either take full control of Can Oxy or buy it up and sell off its assets. It now owns 29.2 per cent of its Canadian subsidiary.
Can Oxy is an oil and natural gas producer. Aside from Columbia, it also has holdings in Canada, the United States, Yemen, Nigeria, Australia, and Indonesia.
